Isopods...good or bad?

[djconn]

Hey guys, I've recently found a boat load of pretty decent sized isopods in my nano tanks. I've done some research and found out that the ones with the big black eyes are definitely the bad ones. Mine don't have the big black eyes but from what I'm gathering, they are still troublesome and parasitic. I probably won't keep any fish in these tanks so they won't have host to live off. Question is -- should I take to get them out or just let them be?

 

[Dollarz81]

How would you get all of them out? I would suggest get a Mandrin to keep them under control.

 

[djconn]

You might be thinking I meant copopods...I'm talking about isopods. These guys are pretty big. I could just suck them up in a turkey baster.

They would probably kill a mandarin b/c they are parasitic blood suckers. There aren't enough copopods in my 5.5 or 2.5 gallon nano to support the feeding needs of a mandarin either. Will post a pic of these suckers soon :shock:

 

[djconn]

Well today I tried to find a few of the isopods to take pics of and I couldn't find a damn one! I guess without a host to live off of, they finally died off. I read somewhere that they eventually would without fish in the tank but I didn't think it would happen in 1 month! Maybe they are just being sneaky...

 

[Dollarz81]

Is there a site where I can find photos of copepods and isopods? My tank is full of ***pods. These are the size of ants though. They cover EVERYTHING!